


Nightmare on Monarch

by allthetrek



Category: The Outer Worlds (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-21 01:13:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21291269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allthetrek/pseuds/allthetrek
Summary: While travelling cross-country on Monarch, you make camp for the night. You have a nightmare about being in cryo-stasis, and Max comforts you.
Relationships: The Captain/Vicar Maximillian DeSoto
Comments: 2
Kudos: 102





	Nightmare on Monarch

You and the others have been walking all day, traversing the dangerous, foreign terrain of Monarch, making your way painstakingly to your current destination. You stop and make camp for the night, as much of a night as you get on Monarch, anyway. Your sleep schedule has been so out of whack lately, travelling from Terra 1 to Groundbreaker, Scylla, now Monarch…

You set up camp at the base of a cliff, surrounded and mostly protected by huge pieces of a decrepit, abandoned ship. It looks like others have camped here before, as empty crates and remnants of supplies are scattered around the area. No bodies. That’s always a good sign.

There are a few cots arranged around a fire pit, that looks like it hasn’t been used for some time, but it’s hard to tell. You set up for the night; you, the Vicar, and Nyoka, your guide. You get a fire going, not worried about the smoke in this area, as the protection of the surrounding cliffs should keep you safe. Also, the smell of sulfur permeates the air, overtaking any other scent on the wind. At least, to human senses.

Best to have a lookout, just in case. After a meal of canned boarst, warmed over the fire, you retire to one of the cots, staying close by the fire as to keep warm. Max volunteers to take first watch, and Nyoka downs a flask of who-knows-what and passes out on a cot near the abandoned ship.

You close your eyes, ready to get some sleep, but the thought of Max nearby keeps you awake. You swear you can feel his eyes on you, and to be honest, you don’t mind. There’s something about him that puts you at ease. You’ve been getting to know the mysterious Vicar over the past few weeks, and you’re not entirely sure what to make of him yet. But… You’re pretty sure you like him. Maybe more than you can admit right now.

The crackling of the fire mixed with your general fatigue after the long day eventually lulls you to sleep, and some time later you’re in the middle of a REM cycle…  
***   
Cold… So cold… Trapped… You claw at the containment pod you’re in, desperately looking out the frosted glass on the pod door. Outside you can see endless rows of cryopods, an abyss of forgotten souls, just like you. They’re dying, all of them. Just like you.   
You can’t save them. No one is going to save you… You’re abandoned, betrayed, left to die out here in the vacuum of space.

A cruel, freezing death… You breathe the last of the air in the pod, and it exits your lungs in a cloud of condensation. You look down at your hands. The gloved fingers of your cryosuit are frozen stiff. You can’t move. You can’t breathe. Panic creeps up your insides, and you gasp for air, choking, dying…!

***

“Ahhhh!” you exclaim, jolting from your nightmare, gasping for breath, and choking on the sulfur-laden atmosphere of this Law-forsaken planet. You sit up quickly, almost falling off the cot, but a strong arm comes around you, steadying you.

Vicar Max is by your side. He could tell you were dreaming, and had been debating waking you, but then you had regained consciousness. Nyoka stirs in her sleep nearby, unphased by your outburst, unsurprisingly.

“Captain! It’s all right, you were dreaming. You’re all right,” Max states calmly, reassuringly, and you look into his deep green eyes, glimmering in the dim firelight, and feel a peace begin to wash over you.

“I… Um…,” you mutter, blinking the sleep from your eyes, your brain beginning to separate the dream from reality. You shudder, shaking slightly as you still feel the cold of your dream. The bitter, piercing, relentless cold…

“Are you alright?” Max asks you, concern in his eyes, for his Captain, his friend.

“I’m… Just… So cold…,” you mutter again, your hands coming together as you try to create friction to warm yourself.

Suddenly, Max is kneeling beside your cot, and his hands come up to yours, his large, strong hands enveloping yours, covering them, transmitting the most incredible warmth.

“You’re freezing,” he says, and he begins to rub your hands up and down, creating his own friction, and you feel life beginning to enter your extremities once again. Life, or… Something else… Desire?

“Do you… Want to talk about it?” the Vicar asks, always available to listen, sometimes out of occupational obligation, but in your case, he is genuinely interested to know more about you. More interested than he’s been in anyone, in a very long time…

“Um… It’s just… Being on the Hope, again. Same as most nights, really. Maybe once all of this is over, I’ll finally be able to get over my cryo-stasis PTSD,” you reply, trying to make light of your fears, your nightmares, but you know Max is smarter than that. He knows how much it’s been bothering you. And all he wants to do is help, to ease your troubled mind.

“I have no doubt you will, Captain,” he comments, and his attention to your now lukewarm hands changes. He begins to squeeze your hands gently between his, massaging them, and you allow yourself a moment of vulnerability. You close your eyes and breathe, focusing on the sensation of his touch.

Your heart twinges as you realize you can’t remember the last time someone touched you like this. How long it’s been since you had any physical affection… And how good it feels to be here, in this moment, with him.

Max’s shotgun is nearby, just in case, and he remains alert yet focused on you. He scans your features, gazing up at you, your eyes closed, a look of contentment on your beautiful face, and he falls for you, just a little bit more.

***


End file.
